The Colliers are committed conservatives who have voted Republican in presidential elections since 1980. They receive much of their information from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh’s radio program and Matt Drudge’s Web site.

New Dean, new ideas: This year's annual promo message from the Appointments Committee had the usual stuff about wanting to hire great people at the entry level and as laterals. And it also had an unusual wrinkle:

… we especially invite applications from groups of faculty with complementary interests.

That doesn't (necessarily) mean a group of faculty from one institution — on the contrary, the idea is that a group of faculty from different institutions might choose to converge here in order to collaborate.

In short, it's an invitation to build your own dream team. One we can afford as we have twelve new faculty lines — plus some old ones — to fill.

I'm not the relevant committee this year, but I'm happy to act as a conduit for people more comfortable dealing with someone they know. Or folks can write directly to the Chair of the Appointments Committee, Robert Rosen.